My name is Valerie and I just turned 40 in August. I have been married 16 years and have 4 children. I have struggled to be healthy my adult life. For me, it's either feast or famine...quite literally. When I was in my early twenties I developed an eating disorder. I allowed myself to eat once or twice a day (a piece of fruit and a handful of mini-marshmallows would be an example of a days worth of food) and took laxatives daily. I worked out 7 days a week, 2-3 hours a day and ...

My name is Valerie and I just turned 40 in August. I have been married 16 years and have 4 children. I have struggled to be healthy my adult life. For me, it's either feast or famine...quite literally. When I was in my early twenties I developed an eating disorder. I allowed myself to eat once or twice a day (a piece of fruit and a handful of mini-marshmallows would be an example of a days worth of food) and took laxatives daily. I worked out 7 days a week, 2-3 hours a day and yet I was never "skinny" enough. You couldn't have paid me money to put on a bathing suit, despite the fact that I barely cleared 100 pounds on the scale. After I started having children, I let go and ate. I maintained a relatively healthy diet and exercise regime. For years I was what I considered to be a reasonable weight at 130. However, I started to think less and less about what I ate for fear of slipping back into old habits. I relied on exercise to even out what I was putting in my face. Now that I'm getting older, my metabolism is slowing down. Despite my active lifestyle I am gaining weight. I eat pretty much whatever I want and I need to get my intake under control. I play roller derby in Cincinnati, Ohio and I need to lose some of the weight that is holding back my speed and yet still maintain enough bulk to kill the jammer or now, *be* the jammer. I am not a self-starter and I really rely on having someone tell me what to do. I'm also very competitive so I thrive on having people working out with me. It pushes me to do more than I would do on my own.

Update-I'm staring down 41! Sparkpeople really helped me focus last year and I was able to accomplish a lot of my goals regarding my weight, fitness and derby. However, I was injured right after Christmas and my workouts have been compromised in 2012. I'm basically trying to stay around 130lbs and as active as possible while I wait to have surgery. After I recover, I do believe I want to start training in Olympic weight lifting to compete. As well as continue my derby career.

Our 2012 season pictures and profiles of me and all my league mates can be found here! http://cincinnatirollergirls.com/team

My Goals:
I am in a weird place right now. I would like the scale to say 125 but I would like more of that to be muscle than I've got currently. I'm hanging out between 126-128 right now but I know I can look better and be stronger.

I would like to make better food choices. I've never quite been able to pull off feeding my family of 6 the way I fed just me and my husband. Our budget is very tight, so I'd like to get it all figured out this year.

My Program:
Derby practice 2-3 times a week. Boot Camp class at least twice a week. TRX/Kettle Bell class once a week Lift heavy at least once a week.

Thank you for your support of my new adventure ;) I had to make a difficult decision to give up,derby to pursue this due to time commitments and I sold all my gear to pay for my down payment. But I am at peace with it...I'll just have to hurt girls in my studio instead of on the track! :) xo